


Uncharacteristically

by Andwecanmessaround



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, I think it's fairly obvious who the waiters are, alcohol cw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 18:23:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4635567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andwecanmessaround/pseuds/Andwecanmessaround
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garnet's been acting strange lately, and Pearl is wondering what it is exactly that has her girlfriend acting like someone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncharacteristically

Garnet was acting strange this week. First there was the last minute vacation to Spain she’d surprised Pearl with, then there was the way she was constantly looking at Pearl now they were here, or touching her slightly, as if she was worried Pearl would evaporate left unattended. 

Admittedly it was so hot Pearl sometimes felt like she was going to melt, but the sights more than made up for it, and Garnet seemed determined to sign them up for every diving trip and activity they could find. Every night for the last three days they had dined at a different restaurant and Garnet had refused to split the bill for any of them. Through each meal Garnet had been acting extremely out of character. 

Normally Pearl was the one blushing as she said the wrong thing or knocked over a wine glass or something else extremely embarrassing, but her typically stoic girlfriend was a mess, stumbling over chair legs, unable to look Pearl in the eye or make conversation, several bathroom visits in the space of one meal. Whatever it was, it was clearly bothering her, but Pearl knew by now it was better to let her girlfriend come out with things in her own time - pressuring her normally led only to defensiveness and retreating into a cold, silent, shell. Pearl had no fear that Garnet had cheated on her. Garnet was incredibly principled, and had been that way since Pearl met her in high school. Garnet would never betray her trust. Family issues?

Garnet didn’t have any family outside of her son Steven and her mothers, and all had seemed fine when she and Garnet dropped Steven off at Ruby and Sapphire’s house. Better than usual if anything. Ruby had been boisterously playing with Steven and teasing Garnet about something, while she and Sapphire rolled their eyes and retreated to the kitchen for some tea and a quiet catch up. 

It couldn’t be a breakup or she wouldn’t have booked this trip. Work maybe? Maybe they were finally sending her out onto the oil rigs? Most engineers in Garnet’s company had worked a rotation out there or in the site of their newest major contract - Dubai. The distance would be hard, but Pearl reasoned they could manage. She was prepared to try if Garnet was. Although if Garnet didn’t want to wait then maybe this was going to be a break up and she was trying to make the goodbye as pleasant as possible? 

Pearl was still reasoning out scenarios to convince Garnet to download Skype when Garnet leapt to her feet nervously. 

“Bathroom?” Pearl surmised, unable to keep an edge out of her voice. They only had a couple of days left here and although Garnet through the day was usually fine, this Garnet was becoming less and less amusing with every passing minute, and increasingly frustrating. Pearl was far too shy to start a fight in public, but a couple more glasses of wine and she’d be feeling brave enough to threaten her girlfriend with a few nights sleeping on the couch once they got back to the hotel. 

Garnet nodded and darted off. While she was gone Pearl finished her food, arranged the skirt of her navy dress neatly around her legs, thought wistfully of the phone she’d left at the hotel, and glanced around the room. She noticed a waitress in a green hijab who looked like she was approaching their table, but Garnet burst back into the room and intercepted them before they made it halfway across the room, skidding to a stop in front of the waitress and rapidly arguing with them in a hushed tone. Visibly annoyed, the waitress turned to go back inside the kitchen and Garnet half fell back into her seat. 

“What was that about?” Pearl asked. 

“Wrong table,” Garnet shrugged, then hastily added “you ready to go?”

Garnet had barely touched her food but Pearl nodded and pulled her purse out. 

“Don’t worry I’ll pay,” 

“Garnet no, you’ve paid for every meal this week so far,” Pearl said firmly. 

“I want to pay, just let me please?” 

“Will you let me pay for tomorrow’s meal then?”

Garnet paused for a second then nodded in agreement, and Pearl watched as Garnet went to pay at the desk, where the green hijab wearing waitress was sitting with another waitress. The staff had seemed fine on their first visit, but become progressively less professional throughout the week. Pearl could swear the tall orange haired one actually scowled at them as they left. 

Garnet seemed a little less jittery once they were outside, and Pearl grew slightly less annoyed with her, relaxing enough to hold hands as they walked along the promenade. There were a few people around but the the sun was setting and most of the tourists would be retreating to their homes for the night now or going to the entertainment hosted in their complex, 

The beach was just next to them on their right, looking poetically beautiful, set as it was against the backdrop of a dramatic pink and golden sunset. 

“It’s beautiful,” Garnet agreed. Pearl hadn’t even realised she’d been staring at it very long. Then Garnet let go of Pearl’s hand and started taking off her heels. 

“What are you doing?” Pearl said, voice amplified slightly by the amount of wine she’d consumed this evening whilst waiting for her girlfriend to return from the bathroom. 

“I thought we could walk along the beach?” 

“And ruin our dresses?” Pearl said doubtfully, eyeing the expensive looking dark red knee length dress Garnet was wearing. 

“We just won’t fall over then,” Garnet said, a hint of amusement in her voice. She was clearly relaxing more now, and a stroll on the empty beach would be nice so Pearl took off her shoes and accepted Garnet’s hand as she tentatively climbed down onto the beach. 

“Oh, it’s still hot!” Pearl yelped in surprise as her feet touched the sand. 

“We can go back up if you want?” Garnet said but Pearl shook her head. The beach was a wide, fairly straight line that of rippling sand that continued for miles in front of and behind them. They were the only two people on the beach that Pearl could see in either direction, and she hummed to herself in contentment as she admired the sparkling of the golden light hitting the sand. 

There was an abrupt pull on her arm as Garnet suddenly stopped, then let go of her hand. 

“What are you-” Pearl turned to see Garnet on one knee a small silver ring, glistening in the light, in Garnet’s outstretched hand. 

“Pearl. Marry me please?” 

Everything suddenly made sense. Pearl felt a giddy rush of relief, frothy like champagne bubbles. 

“Is that why you’ve been acting so strange?” Unable to help herself, she starting giggling, now she knew the reasons behind it the whole scenario was more than a little funny. Garnet had been getting flustered over the proposal, which in retrospect was ridiculously cute. Garnet looked a little confused, still kneeling on the sand. 

“It’s a yes! Of course it’s a yes!” Pearl hastily added, still giggling. They both grinned as Garnet slid the ring onto her finger, and Pearl sat down on the sand to gently pull Garnet down to lay next to her. As they lay in the sand facing each other, Garnet carefully cupped Pearl’s face and pulled her in for a kiss that tasted of champagne. 

“I’m sorry,” Garnet said when they eventually broke apart and they both sat up, arms around each other’s shoulders as they watched the sunset side by side “I’m just not very good at things like this. I kept trying to propose then changing my mind. I was gonna have it come out in a champagne glass but then I kept cancelling it and then I’d have another change of mind…I had to drink the champagne still, they wouldn’t refund me it after the first day.”

“I’m not surprised.” Pearl grinned, resting her head on Garnet’s shoulder. “So it took you four days in a row, around sixteen bathroom trips and who knows how many glasses of champagne, and in the end you propose right after we leave? If any of the staff see that ring on my finger tomorrow they’ll kill you.”

“Yeah…we can never go back to that restaurant. Ever.”


End file.
